The Dutch research organisation NWO (Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek) is supporting journals that want to switch from a subscription model to a Diamond Open Access model. Editors, scientific societies and associations can now apply for up to 50,000 euros for the conversion (flipping) of their journal. A total of 500,000 euros is available for this funding round.
Fair and sustainable alternatives to the author-pays model
With the funding programme, the NWO aims to establish a sustainable, non-commercial publication model within 24 months. Since 2015, the organisation has required all publications from funded projects to be available in open access. However, the majority of these publications follow a model in which authors have to pay fees (Article Processing Charges - APCs). This author-pays model is increasingly criticised worldwide as it restricts access to publication. With the Diamond Open Access Fund, the NWO aims to support the development of a fairer and sustainable publication system and thus also endorses the recommendations of the EU Council on open scholarly communication.
Further information
- You can read NWO's press release on the Diamond Open Access Fund here: https://www.nwo.nl/en/news/funding-for-flipping-journals-to-diamond-open-access
- The recommendation of the EU Council Council conclusions on high-quality, transparent, open, trustworthy and equitable scholarly publishing can be downloaded as a PDF file from the following link: Council conclusions on high-quality, transparent, open, trustworthy and equitable scholarly publishing